Ederson & Jesus: City duo to play vs Leicester amid Brazil ban request?

The Sky Blues boss discusses the availability of the Brazilian pair, who are at risk of being barred from playing, for the upcoming league outing.

Pep Guardiola admits it remains uncertain whether Ederson and Gabriel Jesus will feature for Manchester City against Leicester City on Saturday, although he’s hoping they can partake in the match.

A handful of Premier League clubs decided against allowing their players to report for international duty for the coronavirus red-list countries in South America, with Manchester City being one of those clubs.

The decision was made in light of the fact that players will have to quarantine for ten days upon returning and will, therefore, have to miss a number of their respective clubs’ matches.

The Brazilian Football Confederation, in response, reportedly requested FIFA to invoke one of their rare rules – to slap a ban on those clubs from fielding their Brazilian players for five days after the international break.

Fresh reports have surfaced that the Premier League is negotiating with FIFA on that matter.

If the two parties fail to compromise, the defending champions will not be able to play two of their most in-form and influential players – Jesus & Ederson – against Leicester City on Saturday.

“Right now, it isn’t clear. I don’t know,” Guardiola said during his pre-match press conference. “Hopefully they can play. We will wait until tomorrow, if there is some good news.

“The club didn’t inform me of anything so we are going to wait until tomorrow to see if they can play or not.

“The problem is I don’t understand the situation. I don’t know what we can do.

“After the confederation from Brazil asked FIFA to ban these players because they don’t travel to play with them, but they cannot play there and after they can’t play here. That is crazy.

“We allowed them to play, from Liverpool and [Manchester] United and Arsenal and Chelsea, but they had to travel and they are not allowed because they had to quarantine 10 days in a hotel.

“After they come from Brazil and have to stay 10 days in a hotel. They miss the game this weekend, the Champions League, the next Premier League game.

“It is difficult to understand. That’s why we wait for FIFA. Hopefully they will make a statement and allow all the Brazilian players to play with their teams.”